Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will announce the fresh housing drive in a speech to the National House-Building Council today, where he will admit “It’s time to think big” to tackle the housing crisis.
Clegg will also say that the time has come for a new generation of big and bold plans for garden cities and suburbs to be brought forward.
The latest funding supplements kick-start cash already released, but will be targeted at larger schemes of 4,000 – 9,500 homes.
The Government hopes the funding will unlock up to 48,600 new homes.
A draft of his speech today states: “We are working with a number of large locally-led schemes. The sites have been held up for various reasons: cash-flow problems following the banking crash; bureaucracy and licensing issues, a lack of upfront investment for infrastructure. Some for up to 10 years.”
“So we will unlock the barriers to investment. We will make sure that bureaucracy does not hold back these developments: bringing partners together to get action on the ground.
“And, where investment is required, I can announce new funding. We will provide £225m of government money which will also leverage private investment to effectively de-risk these or similar projects and get them moving.”
He will also confirm the government is also planning to launch a competition to promote the development of new towns like Milton Keynes, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City.
“Government needs to get better at encouraging these kinds of long-term developments, which, by definition, take time and need certainty.
“Departments aren’t used to thinking beyond the next Spending Review, let alone the next Parliament - but we need to shift our sights.
“I want us to make the best offers to the most ambitious proposals. So not just 5,000 new homes; but 15,000, 25,000.
“I want us to encourage projects which are sustainable and socially diverse. Where it makes sense I want us to designate more, new greenbelt around new settlements– that’s something no government has really done for a generation.
“We’ll need to find ways to create more certainty for large scale projects. And, in general, I think we need to move to longer timeframes in the way we budget for capital.”
Mike Leonard, Director of the Modern Masonry Alliance, said: “We of course welcome what at face value seems to be a further £225 million of kick start money.
“However, we do not just need to "Think Big" we need to "Think Now" before we lose the manufacturing capacity and skills we need for the future and have to become a net importer of building materials and skills..
“We remain very concerned that the Government continues to play on the fringe and not fully understand the prospect for growth the housing market offers.
“We have a fantastic opportunity, not shared by many European countries, to build our way out of recession. A £2 billion cash injection to build public rented homes is the sort of "big bold idea" we need to create the jobs and growth and homes we so desperately need.”
